Lobito Corridor: EU ready to support DRC

Kinshasa, May 20^th, 2026 (CPA). – The European Union (EU) is ready to support local development in the territories of the Democratic Republic of the Congo along the Lobito Corridor, has indicated the acting business manager of this political and economic organisation on Tuesday in Kinshasa, according to a press release received on Wednesday by CPA. “We are eagerly awaiting the formalisation of the financial commitment so that we can move forward, and Europe remains willing to support DRC, provided it still wishes to be supported by Europe,” has declared Fabrice Basile, acting business manager of the European Union in DRC, as quoted in the press release. According to Mr Basile, this rail project has multiple levels of involvement and covers several regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The EU proposes to support and assist with related projects around the Lobito Corridor, as well as the development of the regions concerned. “This is a project that also has a digital and agricultural dimension, as it spans a whole range of territories. So Europe can also be present to support the development of these territories,” he has said. The press release has reported that, following this working meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister in charge of Transport, Communications and Accessibility, Jean-Pierre Bemba, has met on Tuesday with 14 ambassadors from EU countries; the EU is closely monitoring the formalisation of commitments by the various partners regarding this major infrastructure project worth over a billion dollars in DRC. The Lobito Corridor is a strategic transport network in Southern Africa. It links the mining regions (copper, cobalt) of DRC and Zambia to the Atlantic port of Lobito in Angola, via the Benguela Railway (a province and historic town on Angola’s western coast, located approximately 600 kilometres south of Luanda).ACP